Sweet senior stray cat chooses to adopt herself into a family’s life by slipping into their home during grocery run, demanding food, new pawrent says: ‘I believe that she looks like a furry potato, and insisted that be her name.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jan 14, 2026 4:00 PM EST

The introduction of any stray cat into a fur family home is one to be celebrated jovially. But one would most certainly argue that in the case that the stray cat is old and has somehow managed to maintain a life on the streets for so long without falling into ill health, the celebration should be ten-fold. But today we have a story of exactly such a cat who's new family, while incredibly happy and heartwarmed to have her, seemed to be overall rather ambivalent about the whole thing.

Beginning with their casual trip with the stray to the vet, something which would usually require days of trapping attempts and scratched arms. Then how casually the cat just waltzed into their home and claimed it as her own, without asking, being invited in or even coerced in any way. And then simply finding herself as a part of said family home with nery an issue. And just to add to all the wholesomeness this happened around the new year, making for a marvelous start to the year. What more could a cat lover want out of a new year resolution?

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  • 01
    "Potato says Meow to you all."
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    This is Potato. She is a very underweight cat who my family and I have seen wandering around our street. On New Year's Day, my dad had come home from doing the
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    weekly shopping, and opened the door before going to bring in the shopping. The moment he came inside with the first bag, Potato was sat in our hallway,
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    obviously hoping for food. Yesterday, we had a vet appointment and found out that Potato was a ten or eleven year old cat who wasn't
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    microchipped, and given her condition, she was very much a stray. We had bought some things for her the day after she arrived, because at
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    Henry
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  • We love just how matter of fact all this part of the story is. Like yeah we just happen to have an old scraggly stray cat hanging around our house. So just casually we decided to take it to the vet to see whats up with it and then upon being sure that it is a stray in decent health and condition for a stray, we are going to buy the stray a bunch of stuff. As though all of this stuff just happens every day. While at the same time this was likely the stray’s best day of life ever.

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    that point, we didn't know if she was a pet, or just a stray, and we wanted her to at least have a litter box, some food, and a pet carrier. But I can say
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    for definite that she is now very much my cat. Now, we had seen her for a while, and a fair amount of cats on our street are indoor and outdoor cats, so we weren't sure if she
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    was indeed a pet, her being a long haired cat that we generally saw from a distance hid whether she was wearing a collar, which she now has, a pretty pink one.
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    When we brought her inside, we found out that she was skin and bones, so a vet appointment was made there and then, but given the time of year, we
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    would have to wait a few days. In that time, my parents and I had been getting her accustomed to regular meals, plenty of water, and getting her used to her carrier. As to her
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    PAU
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    name, I believe that she looks like a furry potato, and insisted that be her name. The funny thing is, that when I was a baby, my parents had a cat called Spud Pud (shown in image 10), and my
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  • Seriously, who is this cat version of the Doolittle family? We are losing it! For most people and even more so for cat lovers, these kinds of moments and events are mind bending. We get so excited by every little moment. The first time the nervous stray explores the house. The gentle signs that they are using the litter box and eating while we are asleep. And finally the grand moment that the cat reveals itself to you while you are awake, confirming its state of comfort in your home. It is as though this family has gone through this a million times and this is just old hat for them at this point. 

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    mum keeps accidentally calling Potato 'Spud Pud.' It is purely by coincidence that both cats have similar names, but well... they suit each cat.
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    Potato says Meow to you all.
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stray cats groceries life cat adoption demanding slip potato reddit story cat story choose pawrents family food senior cats home furry sweet cats
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